Continuous Professional Development





Continuing professional development, or CPD, is the ongoing process of developing, maintaining, and documenting your professional skills.

These skills may be gained formally, through courses or training, or informally, on the job or by watching others.

Some professions use the term 'continuing professional development formally and require a certain amount of development activity to be carried out and documented each year as a condition of maintaining your membership of, or registration with, a professional body, or a license to operate in that field.

In other areas, CPD is used more informally. A commitment to learning and improving is, however, generally expected of anyone in a professional capacity.

What is a profession?

A profession, broadly speaking, is a career area for which you need a professional qualification. Traditionally, the professions included law, medicine (including dentistry and other allied professions), accountancy, civil service, and similar. More recently, many other professions have emerged, including HR, marketing, sales, and IT, all of which have recognized professional qualifications.

Professional qualifications are a requirement to operate in some professions, such as medicine or dentistry. While it is not absolutely required to hold an HR qualification to work in HR, for example, anyone wishing to make a career in that area is strongly encouraged to obtain qualifications to demonstrate their commitment.

The Continuing Professional Development Cycle

The process of CPD is designed to help you identify and act on your own development needs.

The Continuous Professional Development Cycle (see figure) shows that professional development is, like much other learning, best thought of as a circular series of activities. The process moves from identifying your development needs through planning and then carrying out your learning activities, to reflecting on your learning, and then applying it and sharing it with others.

The Continuing Professional Development Cycle. 1 Identify and plan your development. 2. Plan learning activities. 3. Reflect on your learning. 4. Apply your learning. 5 Share your learning.

Perhaps the most important thing about CPD is that it is personal.

Each individual is expected to identify their own needs, organize their own training, and learn for themselves. Part of being a professional is taking responsibility for your own skills and recognizing when they need to improve.

1. Identifying Your Needs

There are several ways in which you can identify development needs.

For example, you can carry out a skills audit. You may receive feedback from colleagues or your line manager about an area in which you are weaker. Alternatively, you may have an interest in a particular area and want to develop your knowledge.

You may find our page on Identifying Areas for Development helpful here.

Once you have identified your key areas for development, you then need to plan your activities.

2. Planning and Carrying Out Development Activities

Development activities may be either:

  • Formal, such as training courses or particular qualifications. These are often, though not always, provided by an external provider, and may carry a cost. Your employer may have a limit on what they are prepared to pay, so you may need to consider self-funding or alternatives such as online resources that are cheaper or even free.
  • Informal learning, including side-by-side learning, video training (for example, for doctors in particular surgical techniques), shadowing, mentoring, coaching, or reading on the subject.

There is a growing recognition that continuing professional development is both essential and potentially expensive. Especially in developing countries, professionals are using the internet to share teaching content for free, or at a very low cost. You may find that an imaginative approach to seeking out development activities pays off.

3. Reflecting on Your Learning

Reflecting on what you have learned is a vital part of continuing professional development. Learning does not emerge only from activities that you designated as ‘development’, and you may find that you are learning at least as much from your day-to-day activities.

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It is a good idea to keep a ‘learning log’ or diary. Make a habit of writing in it at least once a week, if not each day (if you leave it any longer, you probably won’t remember). For each event or activity that you find useful, make a note of:

  • The situation;
  • What you learned;
  • What you will do differently as a result?

This diary can be used to assess your progress against your development goals.


For any formal or informal but designated development activity, you should record the activity, what you found useful or not useful about it, and what you have learned. In each case, make sure that you are clear about how it will change what you do in the future (how you apply your learning).

You may find our page on Reflective Practice helpful in developing good habits in this area.

4. Applying Your Learning

Going on training courses or watching videos is only the start. You then have to apply what you have learned to your own job. This can be quite a clumsy process, especially at first. The competence theory of learning sets out that we move through four stages when we learn:

  1. Unconscious incompetence – not knowing what we don’t know;
  2. Conscious incompetence – knowing where we need to develop and watching other people do it, but still unable to do it ourselves with any skill;
  3. Conscious competence – being able to do something reasonably well, provided we concentrate; and
  4. Unconscious competence – being able to do something almost instinctively, without needing to focus on it.

There is more about this cycle on our page on Coaching.

When you have done some training or other development activity, you will probably be somewhere between conscious incompetence and conscious competence, depending on how much you have been able to practice.

You, therefore, need to spend time applying your learning and practicing to move to a stage of unconscious competence.

5. Sharing Your Learning with Others

Some commentators add a fifth stage to the competence cycle – being able to teach others. It is certainly true that being able to articulate and share your learning is an important part of making sure that you have fully internalized it.

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It is a good idea to get into the habit of discussing your learning with your colleagues regularly. Sharing each other's learning can be a really good development tool, and can help you identify new areas for development, or ideas for other development activities, as well as helping to refine what you have learned in your mind.

Why Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Is Important | BPP



The term continuing professional development (known as CPD) describes the type of learning activities that professionals engage in to develop their skills and abilities further. There are several CPD learning methodologies, including professional development courses, industry conferences, training workshops, e-learning programs, and ideation sessions. 

CPD enables learning to become conscious and proactive, rather than passive and reactive – this is mediated by the incorporation of vocational, and practical into academic qualifications. It’s an important part of continually making personal improvements even after finishing formal education.

What makes CPD important?

As the world’s industries continuously evolve, it gets increasingly difficult to overstate the importance of continuing professional development. CPD enables individuals to reinforce and enhance their current skills while reducing any knowledge shortfalls, providing a competitive edge in times where one is needed – a job interview, for example. CPD can also set individuals apart in the job market, as many candidates vying for particular roles often hold similar fundamental qualifications.

A planned CPD approach enables individuals to take charge of their career development and aspirations. The personal empowerment derived from professional autonomy can increase confidence in one’s efficacy and ability, which can translate directly into improved work performance. This benefits employers, too, as a staff is likely to be more motivated and loyal to a company that invests in them and supports their development.

CPD also ensures that both academic and vocational qualifications do not become obsolete, allowing individuals to continually up-skill and develop their proficiencies, regardless of their age, occupation, or educational level.

CPD learning types

Structured CPD – Active learning

Structured CPD adopts an interactive approach underpinned by participatory learning. The method's integral activities are training courses, workshops, conferences, seminars, lectures, and e-learning courses. 

Structured CPD also covers career-orientated assessments and exams. Bear in mind, however, that the study and revision for these exams are regarded as self-directed learning (see Self-Directed CPD section below).

Reflective CPD –  Passive Learning

Reflective CPD is one-directional and passive, and there is no participant-based interaction involved. Examples include reading relevant news articles, case studies, and industry updates, as well as listening to podcasts.

Some informal meetings fall into the Reflective CPD bracket, so long as their learning objectives are specified in an individual's overall CPD plan.

Self-Directed CPD – Unstructured Learning

Self-directed learning constitutes all unsupervised CPD activities, including reading articles and publications, either online or in print. Unstructured learning material includes peer-reviewed books and studies, industry journals, trade magazines, and industry-specific news feeds.

What are the benefits of CPD?

At its core, CPD helps individuals, organizations, and entire industries maintain and develop knowledge and skills, but it also helps employees adapt to change.

Benefits of CPD for individuals

Upskilling

CPD provides a panoramic view of an individual's skill set, enabling them to hone their prevalent skills while improving those that require work. Ultimately, continual upskilling boosts confidence and empowers the individual to become more proficient in their role.

Adaptation

Equipped with the latest in-demand skills, CPD enables employees to adapt positively to changes in work or industry requirements, which is vital in a fluid job market. CPD also provides concrete evidence of personal motivation for development, which is useful as leverage in appraisals and job applications.

Benefits of CPD for employers

Improve reputation and foster team spirit

Businesses can enhance their reputation and boost brand perception by providing CPD for their employees. By empowering their staff through CPD provision, employers promote a healthy learning culture, leading to a happier, more productive workforce, while helping to retain valuable staff.

Save time and expenditure

In cases where staff with CPD obligations rely on a professional body,  parent organizations can use outsourced CPD providers if their internal resources are limited.

Moreover, many CPD courses are seminars that take place over just one or two hours, while some CPD courses are delivered via a full 6-10-week program, divided into bite-sized modules. CPD, therefore, strikes a healthy balance between work commitments and professional development.

Recording Your Development

An important part of continuing professional development is being able to demonstrate it, especially if your membership in a professional body depends on it.

You should therefore keep a folder or portfolio of all your development activities, drawing on your learning diary. The aim of this is to be able to show how your skills and knowledge have developed over a period.

You should, therefore:

  • Keep a note of your development needs and goals, and make a regular (quarterly, six-monthly, or annual) assessment of your progress against them;
  • Record any training courses attended, with a copy of any certificates or qualifications obtained. Keep a record of the date, provider, aims of the training, and your thoughts on what you learned from it;
  • Make a note of any shadowing, video-assisted training, or similar. In each case, record the provider, the aims, and your thoughts about what you learned;
  • For any coaching or mentoring sessions, make a note of the date, the person you were with, what you discussed, and what you intend to do differently as a result;
  • For any reading and other informal development that you do, make a note of the book or website, and what you have learned and will do differently as a result;
  • If you are involved in any critical incidents or make particular mistakes from which you learn, record the details of the incident, what you learned, and what you will do differently as a result.

And finally…

Continuing professional development is an ongoing process, as well as a cycle. You are likely to continue to learn throughout your professional life.

It is therefore a good idea to develop a process for it that works for you at an early stage of your career.